Italian oil major Eni has officially launched a project to develop floating liquefied natural gas infrastructure offshore Congo-Brazzaville, with a view to increasing LNG exports from the West African country to Europe.

In a ceremony hosted on Wednesday in Congo-Brazzaville’s southern port city of Pointe-Noire, attended by Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi and Congo-Brazzaville President Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Italian major marked a milestone in its development ambitions for the shallow-water Marine XII gas field concessions it holds near the country’s coast.